


When In War: The Darkest Crusade

by webhead3019



Category: Batman (Comics)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2020-01-04 10:46:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18342101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/webhead3019/pseuds/webhead3019
Summary: The Bat-Man was a myth, a war hero but a fable no less. He helped secure many refugee recoveries behind enemy lines for the Allies. Bat-Man had sworn a sacred oath never to kill, but the ugly truth had already reared its head after the Holocaust. This was war... You have to win it no matter the cost.





	1. The Truth About War

Bruce said, “I already know what’s on your mind. You might as well come out and say it.” Alfred said, “But, do you really?” Bruce said, “I’m going to Germany to fight the Nazis. This is something bigger than Gotham, bigger than the two of us.” Alfred said, “Of course it is. It always is.” Bruce said, “That’s not what you want to say to me.” Alfred said, “I’m not going back to Germany, not after what happened. That’s where I draw the end of my line!” Bruce said, “With or without you, it’s what I have to do. It’s what you would have done 20 years ago.”

Alfred said, “That’s enough, Bruce! I can’t take this joke of a crusade any more than I have already. You’ve taken me for a ride from one World War to the next one. I’ve spent 15 years trying to fix you like I’m still a bloody MI6 war surgeon, but not a minute longer! Can’t you see that all these crusades are farces now? Crusades have always been nothing save farces.” Bruce said, “Alfred...” Alfred said, “Oh, for the... It was me, Bruce!” Bruce said, “Alfred, what are you trying to tell me?” Alfred said, “All this time, it was me. For God’s sake, I’m the one who killed your bloody parents.”

Bruce said, “Alfred, you... you killed them? You killed my parents?” Alfred said, “I killed the boy’s parents too... the flying Graysons. Oh, yes... the boy who would become your Robin. I killed them as well. But for a different reason then. I couldn’t bear the thought of cleaning up after you for another 15 years. I took you in on your tenth birthday... but not for the money. I took you in because you were a skeleton in my closet. I couldn’t sleep at night knowing that I killed your parents.” Bruce said, “How could you carry my trust, knowing what you did?” Alfred said, “I didn’t choose to do what I did. You always had a choice.”

Alfred said, “Thomas and Martha Wayne were my best friends in the world and I never wanted to kill them. Despite my living in servitude to them, they truly did love me and even made me your godfather. All the medals in the world couldn’t have prepared me for such an honor. I had no one, but the Great War had damaged me beyond the point of no return. I truly believed I was still in Germany on that horrible night I killed your mother and your father, my two very best friends. That was the last time, my last horrible reminder... that the war never really did end.” Bruce said, “The war never ended?”

Alfred said, “You just had to pursue some noble crusade of your own the moment your parents were taken from you? Well, I couldn’t be your fellow brother-at-arms forever. I’m 65 years old now, but this war of yours has made me feel twice that. Gordon’s only 40 and look what living in this bloody city has already done to him. Gotham is without a doubt the worst battlefield in the country you could have picked. You may have pumped fear into the black heart of Gotham over the better half of this decade, but Germany fears no man... let alone, the Bat-Man! You think you’ve made progress now? You’ve barely brushed the surface.”

Alfred said, “Go there and the world you’ve built will be turned upside-down. The war never ends and it is not noble, don’t you see? It’s ugly and unbearable on all sides. I have so much blood on my hands, blood I’ll never be able to wash off. A lot of it was my own fault, but a lot of it was yours. You always had a choice, you brat. I set my eyes on the Grayson boy long before you did. Untimely a demise as it may be, Grayson’s parents’ deaths was no accident. It was no more a simple slip in the alley than the death of your own parents. There was a reason I couldn’t be there for you that night, just like the reason I won’t be there for you much longer. I merely left breadcrumbs, breadcrumbs I knew you would follow.”

Alfred said, “I’m in no place to point fingers, but neither are you. I took you along for a ride, just as you did me. Because you’ve always only had one choice. That is, you’ve always only had one choice you could see. With getting to know you the way I did, you made it easy for me. Call what I did unspeakable, but I call it common courtesy. I didn’t know what you would do if you found I was dead one day and you tried waging your secret war alone. You needed a recruit and you need someone who was fresh. You knew what it was like to be his age and lose your parents. You are so blinded by your lust for revenge and your status as a billionaire that you naturally had it all to give.”

Alfred said, “I’m not a soldier anymore, but I know the horrors of war all too well. The war has damaged you and your mind simply cannot function without someone else to feed off of. Had you been given the time and consideration, I feared what you might have done. Had I waited a year longer, you might have even done the dirty deed of murdering the boy’s parents yourself. So from that, I have spared you. You’ve already proven yourself to be as unwholesome of a warden as I and you have even spent a year’s time with him yet. He’s already considering going his own route.”

Alfred said, “Even came up with a new bloody name for himself... the Night-Wing. You can’t keep doing what you do. If you do, you’ll lose everyone you’ve ever loved on top of your parents.” Bruce said, “I want you out of my house. You’re no longer welcome down here... in the cave or the manor.” Alfred said, “Then you explain it to the boy. See how far you get through to him without my council. That may very well be his turning point. If ever you needed a grim reminder, you now know you have lost the war. You know what the funniest part about it all was? I was the only one rooting for you to win.”

Bruce said, “Out.” Alfred said, “Believe me, Master Bruce. When I exit these doors for the last time, I’ll be more than happy to. Before I go, there’s just one thing I must say to you. This will be the last word of caution I ever give you, but it's something you must know. If you want to effectively combat a war, you will have to get your hands bloody. It doesn’t matter who it is. Every death means something, Nazi scum or otherwise. Because like it or not, a war can only meet its dastardly end after you’ve killed someone. It’s a horrible and dirty realization, but that’s the truth about war. Dirty is its true face and it’s darker than yours.”

Alfred said, “I could croak to natural causes and that still wouldn’t change. Dying on such terms is certainly more than I deserve.” Bruce said, “Who told you that you were going to die of natural causes?” Alfred said, “No one did. I’m no fool to believe in such pleasantries. You know as well as me that no one dies of natural causes in Gotham.” Bruce said, “For all its worth, I could finally avenge my parents. Now that I see the dirty truth about war, I could easily kill you where you stand.” Alfred said, “But you won’t, and it won’t be easy.” Bruce said, “Oh, why is that?” Alfred said, “Because I’m not your enemy, Master Bruce. Not by a long shot.”

Bruce said, “Then what does that make you?” Alfred said, “Merely your drill sergeant. You want to know who your arch-nemesis so badly? He isn’t a crime boss or a clown in a flashy suit. He’s Hitler and he’s the devil. He’s the only man of sheer lunacy that you are second to. You have never met the Nazi devil and if you’re lucky, you never will.” Bruce said, “You know, that sounds to me like a lecture from someone with a whole lot more to teach.” Alfred said, “Well you can forget all about it, because it’s never going to happen again. I’ve tried teaching you all I possibly could.”

Alfred said, “You never paid my lessons any attention and I’ve lived with that for long enough. I watched as you grew, but I don’t want to be there when you make the first real regret of your life. How could I?” Bruce said, “I never recognized you for this before and now I’m glad I didn’t. Even with all the money in the world, I used to think I owed you more than I could ever repay. The way I see it now, you owe me more than I owe you.” Alfred said, “What are you going to do, drag me off to the bloody war zone this time?” Bruce said, “You know I very well could if you made me. You can beat around the bush all you want.”

Bruce said, “I didn’t open my eyes to that. You did. After everything you’ve told me, dragging you halfway across the world might be the easiest thing I have to deal with today.” Alfred said, “For the nth time, how many times must I say it? I’m not a bloody soldier. I’ve got one foot in the casket already.” Bruce said, “You may not be a soldier anymore and you sure to God aren’t my family anymore. If there’s one thing you can’t run from though, it’s that you’re my butler to the end.” Alfred said, “Fostering you was the worst mistake in my life.” Bruce said, “No. Making me into the man I am now was the worst mistake in your life.”

Bruce said, “The only thing that separates me from you is that mistake’s not one I have to wear in shame. Whether we like it or not, I can actually thank for making me that way.” Alfred said, “And what does that make you exactly?” Bruce said, “I’m the dark knight to the crooks and bastards of Gotham. Soon, I’ll be known as the dark knight to the Nazi crooks and bastards over in Germany as well. If that isn’t imposing enough and this war really is cast by its darkest shade of truth, then I’ll just have to become that much darker. All that the Nazis have done will shy in comparison to the vengeance I exact on them. In the pursuit of triumph, this will be my darkest crusade yet.”


	2. Chapter 2

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